Bad, Ugly, Hopeful
The 2025 UFT elections are over, save the counting. (Copied with light editing from my Substack, jdorganizinginretirement)
UFT elections always get heated. The debate can be rough. The rule-breaking and abuse of power outrageous. But nothing like 2025, never seen anything like this.
Unity
Unity seemed to run harder this campaign than in the past, and in some ways better. They cleaned up Mulgrew so they didn’t have to hide him, like three years ago. They prepared to concede at least a few mistakes, which is new. Their substacks platformed many more voices than they are usually comfortable with. And some of them were pretty decent about disagreeing but being willing to discuss, and being open to working together to better the union.
But Unity’s campaigns are always a bit dirty. At least ‘a bit.’ And this one was at least a bit dirtier than their recent campaigns. The “outsiders” resolution, right out of the anti-civil rights / red-baiting playbook? They haven’t gone there in years. The ugly comments by a DR (I hope he resigns before he is suspended, but I fear neither will happen) essentially celebrating an opponent’s cancer…? Another DR abusing her authority to order Chapter Leaders to pull ARISE flyers from mailboxes… on union time… and then getting a pass by saying “I have been advised that my response was improper” (I’ll get the screen shots, if you need them) with no consequence – like how does an experienced DR need to be advised not to cheat? – and how does the union not address her abuse of authority and theft of union time? (I know how, they just ignore it) The gloating and taunting at the DA… The intentional lumping ARISE with the other group…? Bad.
ABC
I’ll say more, later. I’ve largely avoided writing about them, because we were largely avoiding that kind of campaign. But I have never seen anything so ugly inside the UFT. The decision to exclude “caucuses” but to become a “caucus” – that was a hard swing to the right (hoping to pick up conservative members). The decision to campaign without challenging Trump, or his voters’ beliefs – that’s a hard swing to the right. The decision to “leave politics at the door” (for anyone with progressive politics) but to fan the flames of hatred from right-wing supporters…
An example. Today there is a rally to support Dylan – the DoE student who ICE abducted last week. ABC supporters are on facebook, calling him “illegal” (an offensive way to refer to any immigrant, but Dylan is not “illegal”) – and their leaders are silent.
Unity is supporting the rally. Here’s Olivia:
But “leave your politics at the door” means any acbers who support Dylan are silent, their “caucus” says nothing, and many of their followers are spewing anti-immigrant hate on Facebook.
(for those who listened to the bit about Gompers… no, this is way past that)
They have been aggressive, nasty, spammy. Their griping, whining, screeching… Their use of AI has been gross, including at least one racist image that was calculated to be red meat for their base, or their targeted base. I’ve truly never seen anything like this inside a union. Ugly.
ARISE
Under difficult circumstances we ran a really inspiring campaign. I met some really great activists. We functioned well together (Retiree Advocate, New Action, and MORE). We raised real issues of importance to our union, around organizing, around bargaining, and around openness and democracy. We generally stayed WAY more positive than the other groups. And we walk away from the election ready to keep working together.
I am proud of how many members we reached, how far we got our message out. 550 candidates from a huge number of schools… Half of our RTC delegates ran with ARISE. We were in every district… And the message is a positive one. It represent the future for our union. Hopeful.
JD2718 